Ch. 217

## Chapter 217: The Woman in Sunglasses (3)

「What was that just now?!」

「No time to explain in detail. If my theory is correct, we need to hurry as fast as we can.」

*BOOM!*

Stack after stack of *Potential Explosion* set to Agility accumulated across Ain’s body.

They kept combat with occasional mob encounters to an absolute minimum. Whenever annoying mob clusters blocked the corridor, they used *Stealth* paired with *Biorhythm Acceleration* to bypass them entirely.

「Hyun-nim, this isn’t the direction!」

At one point, Ain called out in utter panic, rechecking the direction arrows marked on the 3D map projected on the edge of her display interface. The pathing vector they were currently sprinting along diverged entirely from their initial route.

「If we keep going like this, won’t we end up skipping right past the candidate location for Louise on the 22nd floor?!」

「It’s fine, I know what I’m doing,」 Hyun briefly clarified for Ain. 「Right now, reaching the 23rd floor first takes top operational priority.」

Macaron had explicitly stated her target destination was on the 23rd floor. Rather than spending time searching every potential hiding spot for Louise one by one, keeping pace with her was the urgent objective.

Besides, there was a high probability that both destinations were the exact same coordinate.

「Did she tell us not to follow her? Then going ahead of her shouldn’t be an issue.」

Hyun intended to arrive at the next floor before Macaron did. He had verified it back on the 21st floor: Macaron navigated along the most straightforward, honest main paths available.

While that pathing appeared to be the shortest distance at first glance, it was actually a winding detour. Macaron’s route didn’t factor in any of the numerous hidden shortcuts scattered across the Labyrinth.

*‘This path is vastly faster!’*

*Click.*

Ain’s body charged straight toward a wall and vanished, passing through a hidden revolving door in a secret nook to cut straight through the interior structure of the Labyrinth along an empty corridor.

Repeating this exact sequence several times, it took a mere 30 minutes to arrive at the 23rd floor.

*‘Great, 23rd floor secured.’*

Instead of pushing further inward, Hyun had Ain sit down quietly near the landing of the staircase to wait for Macaron, who would inevitably arrive late.

A short while later, Macaron descended the stairs. Spotting Ain sitting there, her steps ground to a halt. Before she could part her lips, Hyun took the initiative to speak.

“Oh, what a random coincidence meeting you again.”

“I explicitly told you earlier not to follow…”

“You call this following you? You’re the one who arrived late. If anything, aren’t you the one following me?”

“…”

At those words, Macaron remained silent for a moment. After a brief pause, she threw out a question.

“How did you reach this floor before me?”

“Guess you got lost along the way.”

“That is an impossibility. I possess knowledge of the absolute perfect route.”

“Then whoever gave you those directions did a terrible job.”

“…!”

In that instant, Hyun felt a chilling surge of aura radiate off her. He watched her continuously fidget with her sunglasses. Though her eyes were concealed behind the dark lenses, it was glaringly obvious she wasn’t smiling.

Staring intently, Macaron suddenly launched a question.

“What floor is your destination?”

In a fraction of a second, Hyun’s mind spun at hyper-speed. He answered almost reflexively.

“The 25th floor.”

“Fine. If our destinations are different, we won’t run into each other again.”

Rounding the corner of the dungeon corridor, Macaron vanished from sight in an instant, just as she had done before.

As she said, within this vast Labyrinth, the probability of two players with completely different destinations overlapping routes repeatedly should have been near zero.

However…

「Let’s move too!」

「Where to?」

「From here on, we follow the map layout again!」

Hyun zoomed in on the 23rd floor map layout. The terminal destination point marked by the arrow line was the absolute final candidate location where Louise might be hiding.

As long as they utilized the hidden shortcuts within the Labyrinth, they could continuously cut ahead of Macaron.

—

*‘What is going on?’*

At some point, Macaron found herself deeply bewildered. She had repeatedly run into the same girl she had crossed paths with earlier.

This made it the third time. By sheer coincidence, the girl was already standing ahead of her at her target vector.

*‘A coincidence…?’*

From this point forward, zero branching paths existed leading toward the final destination. That meant this girl was heading toward the exact same coordinate location as herself.

Macaron asked in a low voice, “Didn’t you claim you were heading to the 25th floor?”

“That’s right. What a crazy coincidence meeting again.”

“Liar!”

At Hyun’s shameless response, Macaron raised her voice for the very first time. She had spotted a clear contradiction within the girl’s statement.

If the 25th floor was truly her target destination, there was zero logical reason to encounter each other here.

“Up ahead is a complete dead end. Zero passages leading down to the 25th floor exist along this pathing.”

Naturally, Hyun was fully aware of that structural fact as well. This vector led strictly to a sealed space; there was zero chance a transit corridor descending to the lower layer existed here.

“Not true, though,” Hyun feigned innocence once again. “I know this Labyrinth inside and out. There’s a secret shortcut right around here that leads to the lower floor.”

“…”

Macaron had zero choice but to fall silent at those words. Even up to this point, had this girl in front of her not arrived ahead of her every single time to wait for her, using some unknown method?

And that was despite Macaron holding full confidence that she was moving along the absolute fastest and most perfect route. It served as living proof that secret paths she possessed zero knowledge of truly existed within the Labyrinth.

「Hyun-nim, is that actually true?」

「Look at the map. There isn’t even spatial structural volume for a passage, so how could it be true?」

The lower tiers of the Labyrinth formed an inverted pyramid structure, growing progressively narrower the deeper one descended. Furthermore, the candidate location where Louise was presumed to be hiding was situated in the absolute furthest corner of the 23rd floor. Naturally, the space beneath it was completely solid earth and bedrock.

If Macaron realized that structural reality, his lie would be exposed on the spot, but that scenario did not occur.

“You’re not telling me a falsehood, correct?”

“I have… never told a lie in my entire life either.”

Noticing the sudden emotional tremor through their connection, Ain swallowed back a burst of laughter.

*‘That means Hyun-nim won’t ever be able to lie to me moving forward.’*

It was yet another moment where she felt profoundly glad for the existence of the *Assimilation* skill.

“…Fine. Let us assume that is true.”

However, Macaron, who possessed zero means to peek directly into raw emotional streams, had no way to judge the truthfulness of those words. She chose to extend her trust to the girl’s statement one final time.

Yet, with suspicion already taking root, she could no longer treat her with complete indifference as she had done before.

“In exchange, you lead the way from here on.”

—

Celestials were exceptionally sensitive to Holy Power.

At some point, Papy found himself able to distinctly register the presence of Holy Power without even needing to forcefully concentrate. It signified that an entity bearing immense Holy Power was currently present on the exact same floor.

However, while tracking the movement of that presence, Papy fell into deep confusion.

*‘How…?’*

How could the approaching presence advance straight toward their coordinates without veering off-course even once? It was as if they already possessed precise operational knowledge of their exact location!

“This is dangerous.”

“What is?”

“Our exact location appears to be completely compromised.”

At Papy’s statement that the presence was steering straight toward their coordinates, Louise’s heart dropped. To track down a location with that level of surgical precision—it could only carry a single operational meaning.

*‘Could it truly be a Divine Oracle…?’*

She had sealed her empathy precisely to prevent an incident like this from occurring.

Louise pressed again, “How many presences do you register?”

“For now, only one.”

“A single individual…?”

Confusion surfaced once more. If a Divine Oracle had truly been decreed, why would a solo operative pursue her? On that day five years ago, an army numbering in the hundreds and thousands—including high-tier order knights—had stormed their domain.

*‘Could it be something other than an Oracle of Light?’*

Louise considered a third structural possibility.

Issuing a Divine Oracle was an action that directly exerted influence over the mortal realm. Even Transcendent Beings had to prepare to consume a portion of their core self or empathy to execute it—and the greater the scope of the Oracle, the higher the resource toll! That was the exact reason why non-Archangel entities could only issue vague, ambiguous Oracles.

*‘Could it be an Oracle issued by a different deity rather than Light?’*

Furthermore, the more ambiguous the wording of an Oracle, the lesser its overall exertive influence. If it wasn’t an Oracle of Light, the key identifier term ‘Darkness’ wouldn’t be encoded within it. If so, those interpreting the Oracle would struggle to weigh its actual priority, meaning a massive deployment of Celestial forces like five years ago wouldn’t manifest.

*‘It could mean the Deity of Light is conserving their power… If so, that is a massive relief!’*

Papy spoke up again just as Louise finished her internal thoughts.

“Ah… my apologies. It appears it is not a solo entity after all.”

“What…?! Stop confusing me!”

“There are two individuals. The secondary target possessed zero Holy Power, which is why I only managed to register their presence just now.”

“Zero Holy Power?”

In a fraction of a second, a specific possibility flashed across Louise’s mind. She immediately voiced her sudden thought to Papy.

“By any chance… is that secondary presence someone who wields Demonic Power?”

At Louise’s question, Papy asked back with a shocked expression.

“That is spot on. But how on earth did Holy Maiden-nim know that detail?”

“Ah… no, it was merely a deduction. Are you saying the two of them are moving together right now…?”

“That is an absolute certainty.”

*‘What direction is this situation taking?’*

Louise’s mind spun into intricate complexity.

The entity wielding Demonic Power was unequivocally Hyun. She could still feel the spatial distance to her shadow drawing progressively closer even now.

Then was the secondary individual bearing Holy Power an ally as well? Or had Hyun chosen to side against her? Or could it be that the two of them weren’t working together at all…?

*‘I only hope the second scenario isn’t the reality…’*

Dark memories accumulated over five years of hiding resurfaced in Louise’s mind—individuals who approached pretending to belong to the Abyss, only to constantly seek an opening to strike her from behind… While she doubted Hyun was like them, she needed to observe the situation further to reach a definitive conclusion.

“The presence of the secondary target is far from easy to deal with as well.”

Papy’s expression turned dead serious. Unlike Louise, who held open alternative possibilities, he classified both approaching entities strictly as hostile threats. Dense hostility was encoded within both of their energy signatures, making it near impossible to interpret their approach in a positive light.

“Given the danger level, I shall assist you in combat as well.”

“You are going to engage in battle?”

“No, I intend to secure an evacuation route. Holy Maiden-nim, please refrain from engaging in battle for a moment and wait. If we can exit the Labyrinth without clashing, wouldn’t that be the absolute best outcome?”

“Phew, right… expecting anything more from you was my mistake to begin with…”

*Whoosh!*

Mana began to ripple across Papy’s hands. He was scanning for a viable exit path out of the Labyrinth that wouldn’t draw the aggro of the approaching hostiles. He had zero desire to see the Holy Maiden captured or killed.

*‘Holy Maiden-nim will not perish here.’*

Even for a Celestial whose lifespan stretched for thousands of years, five years was by no means a short passage of time. The reason Papy had dedicated his time was that he still vividly remembered the noble sanctity of the Holy Maiden he had witnessed back in Iluna.

—

*‘I won’t be needing this interface for a while.’*

Hyun dismissed the map projection floating on his screen.

Now that he could clearly register Louise’s energy signature, there was zero shadow of a doubt that she was located right nearby.

*‘The problem now is this side…’*

Hyun threw a subtle glance backward.

The woman named Macaron trailing right behind them—her ultimate objective remained completely unconfirmed. However, the fact that her destination matched theirs to the exact coordinate was no mere coincidence.

「Hyun-nim, what is her deal?」 Ain pitched the exact same internal question. 「This is the location where Louise is supposed to be. What is she heading here to do?」

「It means she has a clear operational reason to be here.」

「What reason? Ah…!」 Ain shouted as if hitting a sudden realization. 「Could she have received a quest related to Darkness as well?!」

The sole reason a standard player would seek out Darkness was a quest. Under conventional logic, Ain’s theory made absolute sense, but Hyun was formulating a slightly different hypothesis.

「Your theory makes sense, Ain, but I think you’re off the mark this time.」

This was likely something that could never have occurred in the prequel game. The reason he could recognize that structural possibility was that he understood the core differences between *Asra* and *Asrian*.

「It’s likely not a quest, but…」

“Hold on. Stop right there.”

Macaron spoke up right at the micro-second Hyun was about to deliver his answer to Ain.

“Where exactly is this downward passage you mentioned?”

The girl had claimed a secret shortcut leading to the 24th floor existed at this location. Macaron had tolerated temporary party navigation strictly to avoid unnecessary conflict; based on her raw energy signature, the girl didn’t seem like an opponent who could be subdued easily.

However, continuing to navigate together all the way to her ultimate destination was out of the question. If their pathing vectors overlapped further, or if the girl harbored hidden motives, she would have no choice but to take forceful measures.

“We’re here. It’s right up ahead.”

“How many meters?”

“Under 100 meters. We’re going to part ways shortly anyway, so there’s no need to overreact.”

Macaron quietly calculated the remaining distance. 100 meters… If that claim was factual, she would part ways with the girl before reaching her ultimate objective.

“Fine.”

If it was only that distance, continuing to navigate together was acceptable. It was best to avoid causing a scene before carrying out her main task. Macaron decided to suppress her discomfort a little longer.

「Focus.」

「Huh…?!」

「We’re about to engage in combat, but your attention was drifting.」

「H-Hyun-nim is here with me, so it’s fine!」

At Hyun’s sudden voice cutting through, Ain, who had been spacing out, offered a hasty defense.

「No, *Assimilation* is off the table for this one. You need to control your own body.」

「Then what about Hyun-nim…?」

「We execute a double-team strike. I’m going to deploy *Possession*.」